Beast-Blog.com
Mike Cherim's Professional and Personal Web Log

Big news! Accessites.org, after six months of careful planning [Read: five-and-a-half months of procrastination, followed by a two-week rush], has finally launched and seems already to be a hit. It’s a good thing it is because it’s for a good cause: To promote solid design. To change some perceptions and misconceptions about accessible websites.

Continue reading “Accessites.org Launches” »

No longer available. Project discontinued.

Announcement: Version 1.3 of the GreenBeast CMS has been finally publicly released. It has myriad new features and improvements. It even comes supplied with not only the fully integrated RSS Newsmaker and a PHP Contact Form (similar to the GreenBeast PHP Contact Form, but it also comes complete with three XHTML 1.0 Strict and highly accessible ready-to-use, plug-’n'-play web pages, all at no charge: A Home Page, a News Page, and a Contact Page with a form. All for Free!

Continue reading “GreenBeast CMS v.1.3 Public Release!” »

With block links you can create large and distinctive links

Mark-up, specifically HTML and XHTML, is found in two basic forms (display types): In-line mark-up and block level mark-up. In-line mark-up consists of things like links, spans, emphasis elements, etc. Block level mark-up, on the other hand, consists of paragraphs, headings, blockquotes, lists, etc. As you may or may not know, some of these elements can be styled opposite to their natural, default state. For example, lists, which are normally block level and render vertically by default, can be styled with your CSS to render horizontally or in-line. And to exemplify the opposite, certain in-line mark-up, like links, for example, can be styled with your CSS to render as block level elements.

Continue reading “Building Basic Block Links” »

Anyway, I’m a little amazed by the volume.

I looked at the counter this morning and realize that the Beast-Blog Theme for WordPress has been downloaded over a 1000 times. Wow. So tell me, dear theme user, you like it? Is it working out for you? I know of some users’ implementations that seem to be working well for them. Anyway, I’m a little amazed by the volume. It’s only been available since Oct 22nd.

Continue reading “1000+ Downloads” »

…with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la la la!

It’s December. The “holidays” time of year. Anyone have the spirit? Anyone willing to “Deck Your Blog” as I have done with mine? Show me your stuff, show the world your stuff, spread the word, and pass on the link to this article. A meme or baton, perhaps? Yeah, baby, let ‘er rip. Then show me what you’ve done by posting a link to your hot holiday theme here. So, can we turn the internet into a festive place? Why should Google have all the fun? Hang some tinsel, string some lights, or do whatever it is you need to do to show off what makes this time of the year special to you. Let it show, let it show, let it show!

Continue reading “Deck Your Blog…” »

I hope this’ll make my web log easier to use and enjoy.

I decided it was time to clean up this web log a bit, tidy stuff up. I had only four categories and the number of articles was and is ever-growing. Stuff was going to start getting hard to find outside of the Search feature, if it wasn’t already, so I didn’t do something about it. I have created five new categories in addition to the four I had, and I have split things up. Love this WordPress in that it allows such flexibility. Here are the new categories, the old ones, and a brief explanation of each.

Continue reading “Tidying Up The Blog” »

Here’s another product from the good old Fiction Department. Just cooked this one up for all those dads out there, or their sons. Or anyone for that matter.

The Hitchhiker

Jenny was due at any time. Frank loved his wife deeply, and he was eager to see his child enter the world. He grew more and more nervous as Jenny’s due-date drew near. Everyone knew it. His parents, his co-workers, their friends. It was, therefore, no surprise when Frank announced he was heading straight home instead of stopping by Jack’s Bar and Grill downtown as he usually did on Friday nights after work. It was snowing lightly tonight so that was even more reason to head straight home. Before the roads got too bad. The snow was expected to pick up later on according to the weatherman. Frank was being prudent. He told the group to have a nice weekend and walked out the door towards his car. It was already dark.

Continue reading “Fiction: The Hitchhiker” »

I’m into Thanksgiving, I’m aware and grateful. To demonstrate, I think this other article I wrote sums up those feelings well. But sometimes getting thanks is noteworthy too. Case in point, I just got an email from a Beast-Blog Theme user that really made me smile. It reminded me that different people are thankful for different things. I also reminded me of why I like to produce open source stuff like the theme and the GreenBeast CMS. I can tell you it isn’t for the money — there has been none of that stuff involved that’s for sure — but it’s the occasional note like this.

Continue reading “Thanksgetting” »

Oops, I meant to write “Great News for Rotten Spellers. Silly me. Anyway, I have some great news about some software I downloaded that will help me spell things correctly — and it may help you too. But let me back up a bit. To those who’ve been on the receiving end of instant messenger with me know just how bad my fingers can type. I am one of those people that must have spell check. I can spell just fine, but my blazing fingers don’t check with my brain before adding characters to a correspondence. I make lots of mistakes and must go back to find them. It’s a pain, but I deal with it. But I admit it, I need spell check. So what do I foolishly do the other day? Yep, I accidentally deleted my computer’s spell check utility. Uh oh. Here’s what happened.

Continue reading “Great News for Rotten Smellers” »